My Connections to Play

"Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in the child's soul."  Friedrich Froebel

"It is a happy talent to know how to play." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Pretend play, dressing in costumes, role playing was one of my favorite child  games to play(Left).

I grew up in a poor environment and had no preschool experiences, so nature was my play and was my teacher(Right).

Puzzles were a favorite activity during Kindergarten.

The support I received when I was a child during play was limited.  I do not remember any teacher interaction or parent interaction.  I do remember centers set up during Kindergarten and having to sign up for centers to make sure that we were not choosing the same center each play time.  The centers were house, giant blocks, kitchen, trains.  I do not recall any others, but do remember loving the blocks because you could build a fort they were so large.   During recess, they children ran around playing on slipper slides, jungle gyms, kickball, etc. 

Today, play in school is more organized with more specific purpose.  I do hope as my children grow that they can experience both worlds.  I never felt as a child pressured during play to "perform", but get the impression that my children do.  At least they did until I chose to home-school due to a relocation.  This opportunity with my children has given me a glimpse into true feelings about everything.  It has been a great experience thus far and has made me a more receptive educator.  

I also think play for adults is good also because sometimes as we grow, we forget how to relax and just enjoy being alive.  This also gives our children the opportunity to see by example.  

Relationship Reflection

Relationships develop anytime there is a connection between two things or people.  These relationships are important because anytime you have to work with another person there has to be some form of a relationship in order to coexist. 

When I was a school age child I struggled with peer relationships and had a low self esteem because I did not understand what was wrong with me.  I did a lot of self reflection as I grew, always asking myself how the other person might be feeling and to respect the other person no matter how “mean” I may think they are.  I also began realizing that I was just fine the way I was and decided to be confident in my actions.   This tactic proved to earn the respect of my peers and in turn I developed many positive relationships.  These actions helped me maintain a friend relationship with my peers without the peer pressure of attending parties and drinking.  When they invited me and I said no, they did not harass me, they simply smiled and said okay.  We were still friends on Monday after the party weekends.  A better example of a positive relationship in my life is my parents.  My parents and I have a common respect for each other in the terms of we are all adults and free to make our own decisions, bonded by love for each other we do listen to each other’s opinions, but respect the other persons ultimate decision.  When we are trying to accomplish a common goal, we respect each other enough to trust and let the person with the most knowledge lead in that situation.  Another positive relationship would be with my best friend.  She is twelve years older than I am and has had different experiences than I, but we both respect each other and are connected by common threads such as her children, God, volleyball, etc.  She does things differently than I do, but we are still bonded by trust and respect.  Lastly, my relationship with my husband is overall a positive one.  Some positive factors that aided in our relationship was remembering to put the other person first.   Again think how the other person feels and respect that.  Another factor is listening to the other person.  We have been married for eleven years and have been through a lot.  Listening is a big thing when it comes to understanding the other person.  Honestly, my husband had to work hard in this department, but because he loves me, he really tried and has come a long way since we were first married in the listening department. 

Challenges in developing relationships that I have experienced is trying to show a respect for someone who you have seen do “bad” things to another person or who speaks badly to another person.  It is very hard for me to “let go” of my negative feelings towards a person like that and to attempt to form a positive relationship.  An example of this for me is my sister.  She is very self absorbed and seems as if she does not care about others when they are in need.   When I stepped back and really watched her, I realized that this is her way of dealing with things she doesn’t know how to deal with.  We still don’t have the best relationship, but we do speak and I keep my negative opinions to myself as she does as well. 

I believe that relationships can develop into partnerships when each person has a shared common link or goal that is important.  Parenting is a partnership because the goal is to protect, guide, and love their children in the best possible way.  Each person has to remember the goal and respect the other’s opinion on how to best accomplish this.  I also think that a teacher, parent, and child is an academic relationship.  This relationship again is to provide the best education to the child, but this partnership in education has to work as a team in order to get across the finish line. 

All these experiences help with teaching.  You need to understand the challenges in order to know how to overcome them.  These relationships that we form with our students and their families are real and ultimately determine how the child will academically develop. 

Final Blog

"We should spend less time ranking children and more time helping them to identify their natural competencies and gifts and cultivate these. There are hundreds and hundreds of ways to succeed and many, many different abilities that will help you get there."  by Howard Gardner

I chose this quote because I truly feel that there is truth to what Gardner is saying.  Sometimes we get wrapped up in what a person can not do and forget to explore what they can do.  


(http://quotes.dictionary.com/subject/child%20development,%20intellectual#wMZuXCjrrKBBfV0b.99) 

Measuring a Child-

The first time I have had the experience with children being measured was when my niece was born.  I would talk to my sister after each doctor’s appointment and she would tell me how worried she was because my niece would drop a few percentage points in height or weight.  As my niece grew my sister would continually talk about how she needs to work with her to help be prepared for her doctor’s appointment.  When I asked her with what, she told me about the questionnaire you have to complete to show that the child is growing physically, mentally, verbally as they should.  When I had my son, I finally truly understood what my sister was talking about and why she would get so worked up about it.  It feels like a test for you and your child!  I did realize that the percentage when measuring a child physically in length and weight is based on an average.  My son was barely on the charts for both weight and length.  It wasn’t because he was malnourished or delayed, but genetically small.  My husband and I are not tall people nor were we large children.  Thankfully our son’s doctor understood our background and made our own growth curve for our son.  I think keeping progress of growth is smart because you need to make sure your child is growing.  You also want to make sure that if there is a delay of some sort to catch it early.  However, with that said, I also think that parents need to understand that not all children will follow the average growth curve.  As my niece became school aged, her mother continued to worry about all the testing that was being constantly done to ensure that she was meeting the current standards within the state.  My niece has anxiety and all the testing was causing her to not enjoy school and to “fake” illnesses in order to avoid testing days.  I think the testing needs to be done, but carefully done.  The emphasis being  positive, not stressful and full of anxiety from the school officials or the parents.  I know at this time the school was trying to meet standards to ensure that it remained in good standing with the state and the teachers were feeling the pressure of making sure the students performed above standards.  The stress was falling onto the students and causing my niece to vomit, hate school, and avoid it all together.  I think we need to be careful how we measure and how we emphasize the importance of the measuring.  It is needed, but delicately implemented. 

When I was talking about this with my husband’s cousin in the Philippines, she commented that her child is measured academically quite often through competitions.  These competitions begin when the children are small and are viewed as how to measure the worth of the child.  If the child is not winning , then they think something is wrong with the child mentally.  Academics is a high priority and if not mentally able to compete then your child is seen as “nothing”.  My husband commented that it saddened him as a child when his father would compare him to others and yell at him for not winning the competition.  He commented that it is an awful pressure of succeeding because if you didn’t you brought shame to your family.

In closing, measuring a child is important to keep record of how the child is progressing.  But it is very important  to allow each child grow and learn without making them feel that they are any less of a person if they are not exactly where the other children are. 

Poverty and Child Development

When I was young my family survived on my Grandmother’s senior citizen’s rations that she received from the local church.   My father was suffering from PTSD and was addicted to tranquilizers.  My mother was scared to leave and go work because of my father’s irratic and unpredictable behavior.  She would watch neighborhood children, but everyone knew what was going on with my father so many did not want their children around us.  Even though we never really had much sweets, I  never really felt poor.  I was taught from a very early age about not wasting food and taking care of my  clothes and shoes.  I never really knew why except that I should take care of my things.  I do remember being sad because my friends would get to go out for the community sports and take piano lessons and I couldn’t.  I also remember that my clothes were usually too big for me because they were hand me downs from my sister.  I was constantly tripping over my feet because my shoes were two sizes too large.  I never felt bad though because of my clothes and shoes because my mom always emphasized making the person on the inside beautiful and not worry about the outwardly appearance.  As I grew I can remember having the school provide paper for me to make my flashcards and doing it at school because they knew we did not have extra paper laying around.  I was academically at the same level as my peers, but physically I was behind.  This could be because of the lack of nutrition during my younger years causing a physical delay (Berger, 2009) or it could simply be due to physical family traits. 

As I have grown, my father received help for his PTSD and his addiction.  He also got a good public service job that had insurance.  Once my father got on track and my brother, sister and I were in school, my mom got a job to help pay bills as well.  Life got better, meals were complete with a nutritious value, I got shoes that fit for the first time.  Every time I got a chance to dog sit, babysit, or earn any kind of money, I did and spend it on my own deodorant, clothes, etc.  I felt it my duty at age 12 to pay for my stuff if I could.  So poverty may have delayed my physical development, but it actually made me a very responsible person.

When I met my husband, he had a similar story from when he grew up in the Philippines, but also stories of chaos from the soldiers and gorilla troops fighting around their houses.  His parents, who came to the US to become doctors and make money, go back to the Philippines and provide free clinics for their town they came from.  They are trying to help, even if it’s a small part, where and when they can to reduce the stress on the peoples in that region.  The children are given immunizations, medicines, milk, food, toys, clothes all in these free clinics.  The region itself is still covered in poverty, but UNICEF and PIDS are realizing just how much the children in this region are suffering (http://reliefweb.int/report/philippines/philippines-children-suffer-multiple-dimensions-poverty-study).

References:

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

http://reliefweb.int/report/philippines/philippines-children-suffer-multiple-dimensions-poverty-study

Child Development and Public Health

Immunization
Immunizations have always been very important to me because it protects my children from the disease in which they are being immunized against (Berger, 2009).  Immunizations work by subjecting the body to a very tiny amount of inactive virus to help the immune system to create antibodies against the virus (Berger, 2009).  Also by immunizing my children I am also protecting them from any possible complications from the diseases.  This is especially important in my children because two of my children have asthma and one has Type I diabetes.  When they get sick even from a cold, they are sick longer and have more issues involving their own ailments.

When investigating more about public health involving immunizations, I decided to research the Philippines because that is where my husband was born.  The first site I found showed a similar vaccine schedule to the US, except had additional recommendations such as Typhoid and Meningococcal (http://www.babycenter.com.ph/baby/health/immunisationchart/).  Immunizations requirements were first implemented before 1900 by the Spanish regiment.  When the US took over and were established within the Philippines they began to try to get a handle on the outbreak of various diseases.  The major disease at that time was smallpox.  After they established their sources for creating the vaccines they proceeded to immunize more than 80,000 in the philippines (http://jhmas.oxfordjournals.org/content/62/1/1.full).  In 1901 they established a new civil health organization to aid in the prevention and containment of disease.  The doctors who would vaccinate were accompanied by soldiers and vaccinated the people without permission.  This was done because the small pox kept recurring due to some avoiding the vaccines (http://jhmas.oxfordjournals.org/content/62/1/1.full).  This marked the beginning of knowledge of science in these diseases for the Philippines.  From this time in history has aided the future of the Philippines in keeping current with today's immunizations to help protect their citizens.

I will always remain an advocate for immunizations because in my mind the benefits outweigh the risks.

Resources

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

http://www.babycenter.com.ph/baby/health/immunisationchart/

http://jhmas.oxfordjournals.org/content/62/1/1.full

Childbirth In Your Life and Around the World

Blog Assignment for WU EDUC-6160

By Deana Austria

My first child was born almost 10 years ago.  My husband and I read every book and magazine on prenatal care eagerly awaiting the arrival of our son.  We were very cautious on what I ate and how much rest I got.  I took prescription prenatal vitamins.  I called the ob-gyn every time I had a question, nervous that I might do something wrong and cause harm to my baby.  During my pregnancy I directed a pep band for high school.  Every time the band would blast their music, my son would just go wild in my womb to the point of almost pain for me.  So I always tried to stay as far back as I could but never quite sure of what this was doing to him. 

When it came close to the time my son was due, the Doctor decided to induce labor using Pitocin.  As the birth proceeded and I did not progress quickly enough, they decided to break my water.  My baby was not wanting to be born basically.  Eventually they figured out that he was facing the wrong way and adjusted him accordingly and 13 hours later, my first son was born.  He was so loud!  He screamed and the first thing that came to my mind was the loud pep band music that he had to endure during pregnancy.  I was so worried that I had hurt him.  I immediately nursed him because that is also something that my husband and I researched prior to him being born.  We wanted to be sure to provide everything in our power to give him a good healthy start.  This experience is note worthy not just because it was the glorious presentation of my pride and joy, but also because it was a new experience for a couple who sought various techniques, methods, medicines, etc. to provide what they felt was the best for their child during pregnancy and post pregnancy. 

From everything I have read it matters how the child is treated in the womb and how they will develop in life.  For example, if you choose to do illegal drugs during pregnancy it causes the fetus to experience withdrawl, low birth weight, prematurity, placental abrution, and more (www.americanpregnancy.org).  When women choose to smoke during pregnancy it can cause birth defects, low birth weight, prematurity, and more (http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/tobaccousepregnancy/index.htm).  In my son’s case I was worried that the noise pollution he had to endure during pregnancy may have damaged his hearing.  When I researched the possibilities of this occurring, it is possible to damage the baby’s hearing at very high decibel s (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/100/4/724.full), but more likely he did not, however he speaks the loudest out of our family and even though he has passed all his hearing tests, it makes me ponder the question.  

The connection between pregnancy, labor, and child development is science of the human development from conception to adulthood.  This science gathers data, develops theories, analysis trying to understand how and why people change (Berger, 2009).  As I searched over the internet for various aspects on different cultures’ birth traditions and how they related to child development, I noticed that there are a wide variety of beliefs on what is healthy for the unborn child.   In the Philippines, pregnant women do not just listen to their doctors but their elders.  To keep their baby’s  umbilical cord from wrapping around their necks, the mother would not wear anything around her neck during pregnancy.  The traditional methods that the women experienced have slowly been mixed with modern medicine.  For example, traditionally women gave birth at home with a midwife or another female family member.  Now most choose to give birth within a hospital setting.  I believe that home birth is a choice for each woman to make, but having a child in the hospital setting helps when complications occur during or post labor.  Also the Philippine Department of Health stepped in around 2010 to improve newborn health due to the high mortality rate of infants (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=554053&publicationSubCategoryId=80).  The connection between the Philippines and my story is simple.  My son is ½ Filipino.  His Dad and I endured many trials trying to not offend the elders with not observing their traditions in the birthing of our son.  We tried to show the knowledge we gained through our research and hoped for respect.  For the most part, his family was pleasant about our methods and welcomed the new knowledge.  They just want what is best for the child as well.  I believe the development of our son has been good.  He is very smart and handsome.  I think that most parents from anywhere want what is best for their child.  When a child is born they can only use what they have access to, to aid in their role in providing a healthy development of their child. 

Resources:

Berger, K. (2009). The developing person through childhood. NewYork, NY: Worth Publishers.

www.americanpregnancy.org

http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/tobaccousepregnancy/index.htm

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/100/4/724.full

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=554053&publicationSubCategoryId=80